The former England captain Michael Vaughan has attracted a storm of abusive Twitter responses for his suggestion that India's VVS Laxman might have beaten Hotspot technology by spreading Vaseline on his bat.

Laxman survived a DRS process during his half-century against England in the second Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.

Soon afterwards, Vaughan posed the question of his Twitter followers: "Has Vaseline on the outside edge saved the day for Laxman?"

It is a favourite urban myth among Test cricketers that a touch of Vaseline can somehow throw thermal-imaging technology off the scent, and therefore result in an undeserved reprieve in caught-behind appeals.

There is no evident scientific basis to the rumour, but that did not deter Vaughan, a prolific Tweeter. Stuart Broad appeared to put the matter to bed on Saturday when he said he had actually checked the evidence on Laxman's bat first hand.

"I actually sarcastically had a cheeky feel of his edge when the ball went past," he said. "There was no Vaseline, no liquids or anything on there. I think it was just the Hotspot not showing the very faint edge."

Meanwhile, Vaughan has endured a stream of insulting tweets, mostly from offended Indian cricket fans.

He has retweeted them to his followers, and added: "I think their [sic] has been a slight over reaction to Vaseline gate... Taken to court!!!?? Sense of humour required for many I think..."